Chapter XXII: Ormul Wants a Pet
The party made their way back to Faceless Mountainton after the showdown with Brackesh and Channer. Upon reaching town, Doniphon said goodbye to the group and left to deliver a restrained Channer to The Warden. The rest of the party met with Cassandra and debrief her on the battle and the losses sustained. The party then set about tending to the battered town. Metamorpheus attempted to use the new crystal ball to scry on his brother, but was unable to do so. Instead he used it to scry on Flynn, who was undergoing some light torture after being caught cheating an an Auberth casino. Enna and Kristandra made their way to the hospital to heal to the injured. Ormul helped rebuild some of the structures in town that had taken damage using some stone-manipulating magic. Enna searched the South Face refugees and found Huck the Blacksmith, who she commissioned to craft some arrows from the nearby black dragon corpse. Ford worked with Soosoo to formerly establish a democratic municipality for the town, and the party agreed to transform the town into a checkpoint along the Dawn Road, replacing South Face. Some time later, Ormul asked the party to accompany him through the mountains to seek out a suitable beast to awaken as a companion. While he was doing so, the entire town gathered to welcome a hard-partying half-orc named Dren. Dren greeted the party and expressed his excitement to meet Ormul, whom he had been seeking out after having a brief relationship with Shila, Ormul's ex-wife. After offending the entire party with his personality, the townsfolk ushered Dren and the party out into the wilderness on their latest adventure. Enna led the party through the wilderness using her tracking abilities to seek out large cats. After following a set of paw prints, she came across a lone black cat sitting in a depression caused by a fallen tree. Both Enna and Ormul attempted to charm the beast but failed for unknown reasons. The party was then attacked by five other displacer beasts. The party was able to use a combination of spells to restrain or otherwise hold four of the beasts captive, and eventually defeat or scare off the entire pride. Ormul claimed a pelt from one of the slain beasts. Continuing their tracking, the party eventually came across a domed mountain, topped with an old building and a group of sabre-toothed tigers. Upon reaching the building, the party was greeted by a Tortle who explained that he was the guardian of a monastery perched atop a massive turtle, and that the monastery has been taking damage due to a purple worm, which has been attacking the turtle. He offered to part with the tigers if the party could take care of the worm. As the party was discussing the best plan of attack, Dren leapt from the giant turtle into the mouth of the purple worm, 80 feet below. In response Kristandra also jumped to attack the worm, instead landing on its back and infecting the worm with Flesh Rot, while the remainder of the party let loose upon the worm. After an eventful 20 seconds, the worm was defeated.